Houston region may be nation’s most diverse, but congressional delegation isn’t

Modern Art: Heavily Hispanic areas in eastern Harris County are divided into four districts, reducing the likelihood of Latino representation in Congress.

A diverse population, but not a diverse congressional district

Our Houston Chronicle colleague Jeannie Kever wrote a fascinating story today explaining how the Houston area is now the most diverse region in the country — even surpassing New York. But that just made us think of something else that has not kept up with the times.

The region’s congressional delegation.

Despite the fact that the Houston region is a model of 21st century America, the congressional delegation is stuck in the 1970s. Of the 12 lawmakers who represent a piece of the Houston area, only one has Tejano roots (Republican Bill Flores of Bryan) and two are African Americans (Democrats Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston). There are no Asian American representatives, even though the census reflects a rapid growth in the area’s Asian American population.

Nine of the 12 House members — 75 percent — are non-Hispanic white, known in Texas political circles as “Anglo.” Those include eight Republicans and one Democrat (Gene Green of Houston).

Why is the delegation’s composition so out of step with the demographic changes of the region? Blame the Texas Legislature and the federal courts. The Texas Legislature drew a map that minimized the voting power of Houston-area Latinos in order to maximize the voting power of Republicans. And it divided diverse Fort Bend County in an attempt to preserve a safe seat for Republican Pete Olson of Sugar Land while packing as many minority voters as possible into the Harris County-dominated district of Al Green.

Also, two “Anglos” are representing districts that are majority Latino: Gene Green and Blake Farenthold, a Corpus Christi Republican whose district includes the Coastal Bend and the southwestern edges of the Houston metro area.

The federal courts are responsible in that they approved an interim map that formalized the Legislature’s plan that minimized minority representation in Southeast Texas and the Coastal Bend.

If you missed Jeannie’s story, here’s the top of of it:

The Houston region is now the most ethnically diverse large metropolitan area in the country, surpassing New York City.

Two suburbs — Missouri City and Pearland — have become even more diverse than the city of Houston. Other suburbs aren’t far behind.

These findings are from a report released Monday by Rice University researchers, based on an analysis of census data from 1990, 2000 and 2010.

“We are a little United Nations,” Pearland Mayor Tom Reid said. “You go to one of our neighborhoods, and there will be a person from Nigeria living next to somebody from India, living next to somebody from Mexico and somebody from Louisiana.”

The report also found that while residential segregation has dropped over the past 20 years, it remains highest within the city of Houston; most suburban neighborhoods are less racially segregated.

New neighborhoods often attract people from a range of racial and ethnic groups, he said. “There’s no history that says, ‘You can’t come here.’?”

The report covered a five-county area – Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston – and was produced by the Kinder Institute and Rice’s Hobby Center for the Study of Texas.

Fort Bend County is the most diverse, with Latinos, African-Americans and Asians accounting for almost two-thirds of residents. Montgomery County is the least diverse, with slightly more than one-fourth of the population made up of minorities.

But Emerson said diversity is increasing everywhere, and rapidly.

A comfortable mix

That’s not news to people in the suburbs.

Danny Nguyen was born in Vietnam and now runs a real estate business in Missouri City. He’s on the City Council, too, where his colleagues include an Indian, two African-Americans and three Anglos.

“Diversity has never been a problem here,” Nguyen said. “I love the city. The quality of life. The safety.”

For some people, the diversity itself is a draw.

Toni Carter was a reluctant suburbanite, moving to Pearland in 2000 in search of more house for her money. Carter had grown up in Houston and was wary of raising her children in what she feared would be an all-white enclave.

“I wanted them to be comfortable with everybody,” she said. “When we were looking at this neighborhood, that was something I had my eye on.”

She discovered a mix of people from all over the world.

“I didn’t know much about the suburbs,” she said. “I expected it to be white-bread land.”

Emerson attributed the growth in diversity to a 1965 shift in immigration laws that changed the way visas were granted.

Before that, immigration was dominated by people from Europe. Once the United States began granting equal numbers of visas to every country, immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa became dominant.

That shifted the immigrant population in cities all over the country, including other major immigrant gateways such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

But Emerson said it had a more pronounced impact on Houston, partly because the city was smaller when the shift began. This allowed the influx of immigrants to play a bigger role in shaping the region’s demographics.

Happens ‘organically’

“That’s a good thing,” said Larry Green, elected last fall to represent Houston’s newly drawn District K on the City Council. “Diverse communities allow you to think outside the box.”

“You’re starting to see African-Americans in traditionally Anglo communities, or Hispanics in traditionally African-American communities,” he said. “I think it’s going to happen organically, as opposed to the city putting (rules) in place.”